Measuring devices are used in a variety of industries, for many different purposes. Generally, measuring devices are used to measure contents such as liquid or dry materials that are to be subsequently dispensed from the measuring device. As the amount or quantity of the content to be measured depends on the situation, various measuring containers of different sizes and shapes have been used.
In the food industry and culinary arts, measuring cups are commonly used for measuring ingredients for recipes during food preparation and cooking. A busy kitchen can be the focal point of creation, disarray, and demanding conditions. Amateur and professional chefs are often required to multitask during the cooking and/or creation process. During the preparation of a recipe, a cook can experience difficulty measuring out the proper amounts of various ingredients such as flour, sugar, shortening, water, salt, and other staples. Moreover, the appropriately sized measuring container must be located, which can often involve searching through a collection of measuring bowls, spoons, cups, and scoops to find the correct measuring container, if one can be found at all. Such an experience can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and frustrating.
To alleviate this problem in the past, adjustable measuring containers have been proposed such that the capacity of the container can be adjusted, thereby eliminating the hunt for a separate container having the needed measuring volume. Such previously known adjustable measuring containers have been designed to be used in the measuring of granulated solids or semi-solids, but were generally incapable of containing liquids. Typically, these adjustable measuring containers incorporated slots and the like as part of the adjusting mechanism, through which liquid materials could pass through quite easily. Accordingly, previous adjustable measuring containers did not address a general use, because in ordinary kitchens it becomes very inconvenient to have to remember that a particular measuring cup cannot be used for liquid material.
Additionally, such previously known adjustable measuring cups have also been generally constructed so as to require an individual to visually read the measuring units on some part of the cup when adjusting from one capacity to another capacity. This construction is inconvenient in busy kitchens as such measuring units are often obscured by materials such as flour that are being used in food preparation and cooking. The individual, therefore, can find it difficult to ensure that the adjustable measuring cup is correctly adjusted for the current measurement required by a recipe.
To address these problems in the past, adjustable measuring cups with multiple fixed capacities have been proposed. Unfortunately, most of these adjustable measuring cups require the pushing and pulling of stops for changing capacities for measuring.
Additionally, the adjustable measuring cups are not easily disassembled for cleaning after use. Such complete disassembly and dishwasher cleaning is essential in any successful cup for the present-day kitchen. Without complete disassembly, a cup cannot be thoroughly cleaned. And if not easy to reassemble, the discerning chef will not use it.
What is needed is an adjustable measuring device having a usable volume for measuring contents that can easily be disassembled for cleaning and adjusted to a plurality of discrete usable volumes during use. Additionally, what is needed is an adjustable measuring device that can be easily adjusted to the plurality of discrete usable volumes, without the need to visually inspect the measuring units on the outside of the adjustable measuring device. It is to such a device that the present invention is primarily directed.